One Blessing Of Chicago Sports Fans

June 27, 1988

Chicagoans may be forgiven for suspecting that God made them sports fans to teach them the value of suffering.

Few cities have endured so many unsuccessful teams for so long. The five major sports franchises located here-the Bears, White Sox, Cubs, Bulls and Blackhawks-have together won exactly one overall championship in the last 24 years.

And now there`s talk that the Sox may move to Florida. If there`s anything worse than having a losing team, it`s losing a losing team.

But every so often the news from New York is enough to assuage a Chicago fan`s envy. The other day, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner unloaded manager Billy Martin for the fifth time, making Lou Piniella (who was, yes, manager before Martin`s latest stint) the team`s 16th skipper since 1973. Steinbrenner and Martin are like an impetuous young couple whose favorite pastime is fighting and whose second favorite pastime is making up. But this time, Martin insists he`ll never return to the pinstripes.

All this is probably not enough to distract New Yorkers from the unpleasant fact that the Bronx Bombers haven`t won a pennant since 1981, which for a club that has been in 33 World Series is a long drought. Even during a winning season, it must be hard to tolerate the likes of Steinbrenner and Martin. But losing with public nuisances like these-well, that`s the sort of torment that could move even Chicago sports fans to count their blessings.